links for 2011-04-19

Sobering and, to me, persuasive argument from Fareed Zakaria that the US is facing serious long term challenges to growth, failing to take seriously the growth of European and Chinese economies and is paralyzed by an inherently conservative (small c) political system.

Excellent overview of "motivated reasoning", the human tendency to dismiss factual information that conflicts with a pre-established worldview. Not a ton of help on the question of what to do when people reason in a way that's based on values, not on facts, but this concluding statement is provocative and interesting: "…you don't lead with the facts in order to convince. You lead with the values—so as to give the facts a fighting chance."